A Short History of Nearly Everything The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States The Secret Life of Bees Holy Blood, Holy Grail Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People Middlesex : A Novel The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference How To Win Friends And Influence People

Voting procedure

From Meta, a wiki about Wikimedia

Proposed policy on voting

The voting procedures used on Wikipedia are rarely representative and usually decided by a small number of people. On pages regarded as particularly important, such as the front page, we should require five things.

1. A consensus that there should be a vote. Voting should be a last resort method of resolving disputes. First always try to discuss and compromise, finding solutions that the great majority of participants agree too. If that doesn't work then agree to disagree and work on the scope and options of a vote. When there is a consensus that the vote is set-up fairly and will not result in confusing results, then proceed.
2. Maximum visibility: the existence of the vote should be required to be advertised in three places: (1) at the top of the Recent Changes with a direct link, a note about what has been proposed and an invite to participate, (2) It should also be advertised on the wiki list, (3) at the Village Pump.
3. A clearly defined statement of when the vote is taken place. eg., from 3rd to 10th August inclusive.
4. A requirement of a threshhold that shows the result reflects a consensus, ie a minimum percentage threshhold of votes in favour of a change. A two-thirds majority or a three-fifth (marked down to the nearest whole number, or marked up if some people want it).
5. A requirement of a turnout shows a reasonable level of participation. That is usually done in elections and referenda by means of a calculation based on total registered electors, with a mimumum percentage voters being required to have participate. That obviously in not feasible on wiki but a minimum threshhold of partipication is. If properly advertised to get people's attention, this vote should be easily able to attract 15 participants minimum, but to be reflective of the community should have a lot more.

Therefore, for a vote to be valid it would need three location advertising and more than 15 voters, with those championing a proposal needing nine votes (if going by 3/5 threshhold and 15 voters) or 10 votes (if going by 2/3 and 15 voters). The aim of this procedure is to prevent endless revisiting of issues, with a decision being made now and then someone in three weeks jumping up and saying 'no'. Lets all vote on my idea instead. It also prevents only a handful of people being around to notice the vote and suddenly finding four or five people voting have made a final decision.

A Short History of Nearly Everything		The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States		The Secret Life of Bees		Holy Blood, Holy Grail
Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People		Middlesex : A Novel		The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable		The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
How To Win Friends And Influence People